Singles
by Raberba girl
Summary: Well, it's not like they have anyone else to spend Valentine's Day with... Platonic Riku/Naminé.


Singles  
(rough draft)  
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl

_For Valentine's Day, 14 February 2013_

Summary: Well, it's not like they have anyone else to spend Valentine's Day with... Platonic Riku/Naminé.

o.o.o

Naminé was very surprised, and almost too confused to be pleased, when Riku came home early that day, handed her a bouquet of flowers, and said very dryly, "Happy Singles Awareness Day."

Naminé stared at the flowers, then at him. "What?"

"Never mind. It's a joke." He started to turn away.

"The flowers are a joke?" she said, experiencing a strange sinking feeling.

He paused. "I mean, you can keep them. I bought them for you, after all. It's just that the 'Singles Awareness' thing is a joke, you know. Because of February fourteenth."

"Why does February fourteenth make it a joke?"

Riku turned back to face her, and seemed to be studying her despite the blindfold. "...You have no idea what Valentine's Day is, do you."

"No," she confessed, clutching the flowers tightly as she stared at her feet.

Riku gave a long sigh. "What do you think, Riku, should we open this can of worms, or not?" he muttered, presumably to himself. He thought for a while, then finally nodded. "Whatever. You'll find out eventually, and you might as well hear it from me than someone else." He sat down on the sofa. "Valentine's Day," he said in his patient weary Explaining Things voice, "happens every year on February fourteenth. It's a day for...er, for people to show how much they, uh, love each other."

"Nobodies can't love, though," Naminé ventured. "So only humans do that, right?"

"...If you love someone, you love someone, it doesn't matter who or what you are."

Naminé looked torn.

"So, um, in some worlds, people celebrate Valentine's Day by boys giving girls presents, like flowers or chocolate or jewelry and stuff, and they'll go on...dates...um, they usually go out to eat dinner together. And in other worlds, it's the girls who make chocolate for the boys, and a month later on White Day in March, the boys give them presents back."

"So I should make you chocolate?" she said in alarm.

"No! No, really, you don't have to make chocolate, Naminé. A lot of girls just buy it, anyway. It's just...I dunno...everyone I saw today was being all lovey-dovey, and I kept thinking of you slaving away here all alone, and...I dunno...it's just a gift, Naminé. The flowers are free. You don't have to do anything to repay me for them, you know? I just felt like you should have flowers today."

She felt herself smiling hugely. "They're so lovely, Riku."

"You're welcome."

"That's so nice of you. I want to do something for you, too."

"I told you, you don't have to," he said in slightly amused exasperation. "You don't even know how to make chocolate, anyway."

"Do you?"

"Huh?"

"Know how to make chocolate?"

"Uh...yeah...like, cake and stuff, but-"

"Can you please teach me, Riku?"

"...Heh. Why not."

They went to the kitchen together, where Naminé remembered to put the flowers in a vase of water like Riku had taught her last time.

"Riku?" she said a little later as they were working.

"Hm?"

"I didn't understand the joke."

"What joke?"

"The single... Um, when you gave me the flowers and said they were a joke."

"Oh. I meant- Like, Singles Awareness Day. It's a joke because- Like- I mean, you know how we were talking about...um, boys and girls a while back...?"

She wasn't quite sure what he meant, but there was only one conversation topic that could get the usually unflappable Riku squirming like this. "You mean how sometimes two people are really special to each other in a way that's different from friends or family?"

"Yes..."

"I remember."

"Okay, well...like, when you _don't_ have someone like that, people call you 'single.' You're single, Naminé, and I'm single. And some people kind of hate being single."

"Why?"

"Well, some people just really, really, really want that special someone, so when they don't have anyone like that, they get sad. Or mad. Like, frustrated, because they can't find anyone like that."

"Are you sad that you're single?" she asked, looking worried, as if she was wondering whether she should be sad, too.

"Well, I don't think about it too much, I'm always so darn busy." He studied her again. "It's okay to be single, Naminé. As long as you're happy, that's what's important."

"Okay."

"It's just that some people _aren't_ happy, so they get jealous when they see couples - couples are people who love each other in that special way. And they get especially jealous on Valentine's Day, which is _meant_ for couples. So they started calling it 'Singles Awareness Day,' too, so that all the singles won't be forgotten."

"Oh. Well, that's a good thing, right?"

"I guess."

"Mm."

"...Hey, let's get these into the oven, okay? We'll have a fun Valentine's Day together with chocolate and whatever chick flick's on TV, okay?"

"Okay," she said.

The chocolate was good when it was ready to eat. And the movie was confusing but made her laugh sometimes. With Riku sitting next to her, letting her snuggle against him and explaining some of the jokes to her, she thought it probably _was_ a good Valentine's Day or Singles Awareness Day or whatever it was. "Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"We can do this again next year, right?"

He laughed. "Well, Naminé, if we're both still around next year and neither of us has another date, sure. I'll bake chocolate and watch ridiculous chick flicks with you."

She laid her head back on his shoulder, satisfied. "Good."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: Riku/Naminé is growing on me...I like this pairing more and more. X3 This story originally had a romance version where they kissed, but it kind of grossed me out and they were getting OOC and it would have messed things up for them in the future anyway, so I ended up cutting all that out and just leaving it platonic. ^^;

For you guys who didn't read my RokuShi fic, I'm really sorry about barely answering messages these days. :/ Real life is stressing me out a lot... I'm hoping I can catch a break after February.


End file.
